This degree is jointly sponsored by the Computer Science and Engineering Department and the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department. The Computer Engineering degree is designed to meet the rapidly expanding demand for engineers with strong design skills in this field. The program emphasizes the design and fabrication of computing devices, the inclusion of computers in real-time systems, and the underlying computer technology involved in computer and communication networks.

The first two years of study are the same as for the Computer Science and Engineering degree and the Electrical and Computer Engineering degree. It includes core coursework in mathematics, science, and computer and electrical engineering. It also includes most of the general education requirements. The junior and senior years comprise a balanced curriculum in computer science augmented with courses in digital systems. Focus areas during the upper division include real-time computing systems, communication and computing networks, and VLSI design/fabrication.

Exciting Possibilities

Since the invention of the integrated circuit in 1968, electrical and computer engineers have been able to double the number of transistors per chip every eighteen months. This exponential progress, unprecedented in other fields, has made electrical and computer engineering the most dynamic fields of enterprise today. Electrical and computer engineers design and implement devices, circuits, and systems for communication, computing, power, control, medical diagnostics, and transportation. Computer engineering is focused more on digital hardware and software systems, such as computers, operating systems, digital communication systems including digital telephones and high-definition television, medical instruments, internets and networks, and embedded processors for automotive, entertainment, and communication applications. Electrical engineering is broader, encompassing digital hardware systems but also instrumentation, power, consumer electronics, digital still cameras and video cameras, lasers, fiber optics, photonic devices, superconductors, semiconductor devices such as high-speed transistors, automotive and aerospace control systems, and military tracking and control applications.